LocalSportsJournal.com

The Muskegon Lumberjacks current winning streak failed to outlast their previous run.

The Lumberjacks opened a three-game road trip with a late afternoon contest with Team USA on Monday and fell short in a high scoring 8-5 contest in Plymouth.

Muskegon, which snapped it’s two-game win streak, is now 15-13-2 on the season, good for 32 points and a fourth-place tie with Dubuque and Youngstown in the USHL’s Eastern Conference standings.

The Lumberjacks will continue their road trip on Friday with a game against the Chicago Steel, then close out the weekend in Waterloo on Saturday against the Black Hawks.

Team USA outshot the Lumberjacks by a 29-27 margin.

Anthony Del Gaizo paced the Lumberjacks with two goals and two assists while Mikael Hakkarainen and Matej Pekar added a goal and an assist each.

Keegan Karki stopped 21 shots for the Lumberjacks in goal.

Team USA opened the scoring with a goal from Cole Caufield at the 5:03 mark of the opening period.

The Lumberjacks responded with a goal from Hakkarainen to tie the game at 1-1 at the 12:09 mark of the first period.

Team USA regained its lead late in the opening period at the 19:30 mark with a goal from Ryder Rolston.

Muskegon tied the game at 2-2 with a power play goal Marc Del Gaizo 16 seconds into the second period.

The Lumberjacks then grabbed their first lead of the game 3:36 into the second period at 3-2 on a goal from Anthony Del Gaizo.

Team USA responded with two second period goals at the 9:37 and 10:03 marks by Michael Gildon and Trevor Zegras, respectively, to take a 4-3 advantage heading into the final stanza.

The Under-17 squad added three more unanswered goals during the third period to take a 7-3 lead.

Caufield completed a hat trick with two third period goals at the 4:44 and 6:51 marks of the stanza while Matthew Boldy scored 13:21 into the period.

The Lumberjacks tried to storm back with goals from Pekar and Anthony Del Gaizo to cut Muskegon’s deficit to 7-5, but could not inch closer.

Team USA closed the scoring with an empty net goal by John Beecher at the 19:10 mark.